News

01.10.2013

First version of South East Europe 2020 strategy for creating 1 million jobs presented in seven cities across the region

SARAJEVO/TIRANA –
Experts of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat concluded in
Tirana today a series of presentations of the first draft of the South East
Europe (SEE) 2020 strategy for creating one million new jobs in the region,
with participation of Arben Ahmetaj, Minister of Economic Development, Trade
and Entrepreneurship of Albania.

The document is being prepared by the RCC
Secretariat, in close consultation with governments and initiatives from South
East Europe.

The event is the last of seven workshops the RCC has
organized in the Western Balkan region in the period between 10 September and 1
October 2013 (Skopje, Pristina, Podgorica, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Belgrade and
Tirana) gathering around 300 participants as part of the outreach effort on the
SEE 2020 strategy.

“The most important goals
of the strategy to be reached by 2020 include: employment growth from 39% to
44%, boost of total SEE trade in goods and services from 94 to 210 billion
euro, and the rise of the region’s GDP from 36% to 44% of the EU average”, said
Sanjin Arifagic, Senior Expert on Economic and Social Development at the RCC
Secretariat and SEE 2020 Coordinator.

“We also want to see the increase of overall annual FDI inflows to the
region by at least 160% and additional 300,000 highly educated people on the
job market, with a realistic perspective to get decent jobs.”

Achieving these targets should contribute to generating 1 million new
jobs in South East Europe by 2020. To make this happen, innovation, skills and
trade must be upgraded and national governments will need to be far more
efficient than they are nowadays.

The main purpose of the in-country workshops, co-hosted by line
ministries, was to engage in broader consultations on the first draft of the
SEE 2020 strategy and expand the stakeholders’ base to include civil society,
private sector, donors and other interested parties.

“The RCC has noted all comments and suggestions for improvement of the
document voiced by the workshops’ participants”, said Arifagic. “All received
inputs will be incorporated into the next draft of the strategy as
appropriate.”

The events were organized by the RCC Secretariat, in cooperation with
respective ministries in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, The Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo* and Serbia.

All relevant regional organisations participate in the SEE 2020
strategy development under RCC auspices. National institutions have a key role:
ministries of economy, education, employment, healthcare, justice, culture,
environment, relevant agencies. International organisations, such as the EU and
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also provide
support.